I've been stuck on this charcoal drawing of the convention center in Atlanta, based on photos taken there last year.

I went back to Tate Modern to look at City of the Gods by Michele Zalopany to see if it could help me. It could. The darks were so much darker than mine. It was loose and free but at the same time structued and composed. There is a tremendous sense of space and depth. Also there was a lot going on with the texture of the charcoal.

In an effort to get moving on my drawing I went to Cornelissen to buy some of the Tortillons. These are the rods of tightly rolled paper that look like pencils. I also bought some Faber Castell PITT compressed charcol in four different grades, from extra soft to extra hard.

These were a revelation. They were so much darker and richer than the compressed charcoal I'd been using before, which in turn has so much more body than the regular charcoal. Immediately I had the far greater tonal range that I'd hitherto been lacking.

This was great but I still felt like I wasn't going as far as I could, it was like I was struck dumb before the easel and couldn't do any more to the drawing. I've felt this before, you just have to push on and do another one, keep moving.

With that I was happy to take the drawing to the framers ready for the Jerwood submission on Saturday. I know there is still a long way to go but I feel this is a good indication of where I am now, so whether or not I get in doesn't really matter, it will be a fair judgement of where I'm at.